


Why Don't you Put that F*cking Phone Down?

by GinnyRose



Series: Peter Parker: Disaster Bi Extraordinaire [7]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Accidental Coming Out, Attempt at Humor, Awkward Flirting, Bisexual Peter Parker, Civil War Fix-It, Coming Out, Fluff, Gay Ned Leeds, M/M, Mentions of Team Cap, Ned Leeds is a Flirt, Ned Leeds is a Little Shit, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Peter Can't Handle Flirting, Peter Can't Keep a Secret, Peter Parker Blushes Too Much, Precious Peter Parker, Sokovia Accords, Sort Of, Texting, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, broken phone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 02:25:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15475437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GinnyRose/pseuds/GinnyRose
Summary: Peter, for once in his life, was not excited about something Avengers related. If May or Mr. Stark knew, they would have marched him straight into a doctor’s office. But it was true. Peter was not excited for something Avengers related and it was all Ned’s fault.Not really Ned’s fault.Kind of Ned’s fault.It wasn’t really, but Peter was going to blame him anyway.Or: Peter would rather spend his weekend snuggled up with Ned but duty calls in the form of a surprise weekend trip to the Avenger's Compound. Thank god for cellphones and unlimited texting.





	Why Don't you Put that F*cking Phone Down?

**Author's Note:**

> A fix to the Sokovia Accords is a main part of this story, mainly so that I can introduce the rest of the Avengers back into the story without dealing with Infinity War. Because of that, this series is now considered AU, as I am refusing to acknowledge that Infinity War can have any place in this fluff fest of a series. There are no spoilers to Infinity War or any movie that takes place after Spider-Man: Homecoming, but I felt like I should warn about the Accords and such before the story. Hope you enjoy!

Peter, for once in his life, was not excited about something Avengers related. If May or Mr. Stark knew, they would have marched him straight into a doctor’s office. But it was true. Peter was not excited for something Avengers related and it was all Ned’s fault.

Not really Ned’s fault.

Kind of Ned’s fault.

It wasn’t really, but Peter was going to blame him anyway.

It had been nearly two weeks since he had begun dating Ned, and so far, it had been fantastic. Peter would absolutely ten-out-of-ten recommend dating one’s best friend. Ned already knew everything about Peter – the cool things like being Spider-Man as well as the not-so-cool things like his terribly ironic fear of actual spiders; and Peter already knew everything about Ned – his incredible abilities with anything electronic as well as his deep-seated and inexplicable fear of dolphins. They liked doing the same things and were already priorities in each other’s lives, so hanging out together all the time was already a given.

It was also a great perk that May and Ned’s parents – Ned had told them the moment he had gone home from the Parkers’ apartment – couldn’t have been happier or more supportive of them. Peter even still had a rather sappy voicemail left from Mrs. Leeds on his phone where she had revealed that she had been rooting for the two of them ever since Ned had first confided about his crush in middle school. She had even gone into great detail about how Ned had told her until the voicemail had cut her off. Peter had taken great enjoyment in watching Ned get flustered listening to it and had even backed the message up onto his computer to have an extra copy. He planned on playing it to Ned every time the other boy mentioned the Notebook.

It had been a wonderful two weeks, buoyed by all the new things Ned and Peter had been able to do. All the things they had done together before now had an added bonus - Peter always greeted Ned with a quick peck on the cheek before they headed to school together, Ned constantly reached for Peter’s hand whenever he could get away with it. They had added a quick kiss to the end of their handshake and most of their texts now ended with a heart emoji. It was – as MJ eloquently described over lunch one day – disgustingly, cavity-inducingly sweet. And Peter would have it no other way. His heart never failed to skip a beat when he woke up to a good morning text from Ned that had three hearts attached to it and he always fell asleep with a smile after texting Ned goodnight with his own three hearts.

Even patrols, which he had been allowed to go on with May back, had taken on a new element with Peter having Karen save screenshots from his surveillance and send them straight to Ned. They were always sweet things – the ice cream a woman had bought him in thanks for helping get her cat down from a large tree in Flushing Meadows, blooming flowers clutched in the hands of a tiny, lost boy who Peter had reunited with his mother, the rose glow of a sunset from an empty apartment’s fire escape where Peter had taken a dinner break, the blur of city lights from the top of his own apartment building after the night had set in but before Karen announced curfew. Peter had always told Ned all his Spider-Man adventures in detail but in this way, he got to share all the little things that made patrols so special to him. The things that he didn’t also share with Happy or Mr. Stark, but with Ned alone.

It was all spectacular. But there was also a downside. Peter knew that he tended to be a clingy person – it was something he had accepted about himself although he always tried to be mindful about other people’s boundaries and never push them to being uncomfortable. His clinginess tended to get worse when someone or something new was introduced in his life. He was lucky that Ned didn’t mind the extra attention Peter both gave and wanted himself – the other boy seemed just as keen about it as Peter. That wasn’t the problem.

The problem was being called on a Friday afternoon by Tony Stark telling him Happy was picking him up Saturday for a mandatory “Intern Retreat” upstate, which Peter knew meant going up to the Avengers Compound. He didn’t know why Mr. Stark was calling him up there and normally he would have been jumping on and off the walls in excitement. Especially because he had foregone his last two Sunday meetings with Mr. Stark - the first because it was when May had been out of town and the second because May had wanted to spend some quality time with her nephew and Peter, having still felt guilty about misleading May about Ned even though she wasn’t mad about it, couldn’t refuse her.

Normally, Peter would have been bouncing off the ceiling after being out of the lab and away from Mr. Stark for so long. But that had been before Ned had become his boyfriend. Now Peter found himself wanting to blow off the compound for a chance to spend the weekend with Ned – he had even planned their first official date before the call came in – but knew that he couldn’t. He had a responsibility as Spider-Man to answer when Mr. Stark called, even if he wasn’t sure what the older man needed him for.

That didn’t mean he had to be excited for it. And it definitely meant that he could partially blame Ned – sweet, excitable Ned who had flipped when Peter told him where he was going for the weekend – for dulling down Peter’s excitement, even though it really wasn’t the other boy’s fault. Well, it was his fault a little bit – it really shouldn’t be allowed for someone to be as adorable as Ned was when he fan-boyed over anything superhero related. It really made Peter want to cancel and spend the whole weekend building a massive blanket fort in the living room to snuggle Ned in.

But he was Spider-Man. And Spider-Man would always answer when Tony Stark called.

Which is how he found himself, on an early Saturday morning, waiting on the sidewalk for Happy to pull up, everything he would need for the weekend tucked into his backpack. This was the first time he would spend overnight at the Compound and he had probably overpacked – his bag was bulging and had barely zipped up with all the things he was bringing – but he figured one could never be too prepared with Mr. Stark. He had had to stuff in his suit, extra clothes, pajamas, toiletries, and all the school work he needed to do for Monday. He had also, unsure if Mr. Stark would have minded him using his things, stuffed in a towel and lots of snacks. It was almost definitely too many things, but it never hurt to be prepared.

Peter had said goodbye to May before heading out of the apartment with the promise that he would try and call her in the evening so that she could make sure Mr. Stark hadn’t flown him off to a foreign country again. That had hardly seemed fair as Mr. Stark had only done that once and he _had_ told her it was a long-distance intern retreat, but May was adamant about knowing where Peter was in at all times when it was anything Spider-Man related and he could hardly deny her that. Mr. Stark may have only taken him out of the country once, but Peter still had a fairly long track record of not being where he was supposed to be whenever May let him out of her sight.

He had wanted to call Ned – this would be the first day since they kissed where he wouldn’t see him at all – but he knew that no matter how much Ned liked him, calling him at seven in the morning on a Saturday was not a good idea. So he had settled for texting him good morning with a gif of dancing eggs followed by an abundance of heart emojis as he waited for Happy. He hadn’t expected a response - assuming that Ned would still be sleeping like any other sane, non-vigilante teenager would – so when his phone beeped with an incoming text right as a sleek black car pulled up to the curb, Peter jumped.

He pulled his phone back out right as he slid into the backseat of the car, absentmindedly saying good morning to Happy – who, as he was not a morning person in the slightest, simply grunted his own greeting and began driving the moment Peter had buckled his seatbelt. It was a picture message from Ned and Peter eagerly opened it, a happy flutter in his chest. When he saw the image Ned had gifted him with, he couldn’t help the giant, dopey smile that erupted on his face.

Ned had obviously not been up for very long – his hair was mused, parts of it sticking up in the back, and there were still some lines on his face where it had been pressed into a pillow. He was sitting up in his bed, still in his pajamas, with one of his arms holding up his small, fluffy cat whom the boys had rather unfortunately christened Pigwidgeon when they were twelve, smiling widely. He had even captioned the picture: _Good morning from me and Pig! Miss you already but hope you kick ass with Mr S!_ followed by his now traditional three hearts. It was sweet and adorable and it made Peter wish that he was heading out for a day with Ned rather than upstate to do who-knows-what with his favorite eccentric billionaire.

He couldn’t do that though, so he settled for leaning back against the plush leather seats of Mr. Stark’s car, angling his phone so it would capture both himself and the details of the luxury car he was sitting in, and snapping his own selfie to send.

“What are you doing back there? You better not be making any more of those stupid videos.” Happy said, shooting a suspicious glance up at Peter from the rearview mirror.

“I’m not! Just sending a picture to Ned!” Peter responded without looking up from his phone as he typed in his own message to go with the photo: _I’d rather spend the day with you and Pig, but the car’s nice! Better than Flash’s from HC!_ That was sure to get a nice laugh out of Ned, even if Peter wasn’t there to hear it. He settled further back in his seat after hitting send, content to look out the window as they slowly made their way out of the busy city streets. He didn’t expect Ned to send another message, assuming that he would fall back asleep after saying good morning but he was pleasantly surprised when his phone, which he had dropped onto the seat next to him, began to sound off again.

_Of course it is! Mr S has way better taste than Flash. And you say that now but you’re gonna have so much crazy fun at the Compound you’re gonna forget all about me! Maybe you’ll meet the other Avengers!!_

Peter laughed a little at Ned’s obvious excitement. At least one of them was looking forward to the Compound visit. He was quick to type a response back. _That would be awesome but I doubt it. They are still technically wanted._

Ned’s next response was instant – he must have still been on his phone when Peter’s message popped up. An image of Ned lying back down on his bed, holding his phone above his face with one hand and petting a curled-up Pig with the other came unbidden to Peter’s mind and he smiled at the thought. It would paint a lovely image. _Not all! Besides isn’t Mr S working to get them back?_

 _Yea but he still has a bunch to do I think. Idk much about it, it’s a sore spot with Mr S._ Peter replied, no longer paying any attention to the streets passing by as he focused solely on his phone. A text conversation with Ned was definitely better than watching the early risers on the sidewalk scurry off to whatever got them up and out of bed on an early Saturday morning.

 _Still possible! Let a boy dream!_ Ned’s response was again instantaneous and Peter bit back a laugh at the string of emojis following Ned’s words.

 _Alright, if any Avenger is there besides Mr S I’ll send a pic._ If he didn’t die from the excitement first, anyway. Even if Peter would rather be with Ned, meeting any of the other Avengers was still a dream come true.

 _Dude! I’d love you forever!_ Ned’s next text was followed by several heart and star-eyed emojis and Peter once again had to bite back a laugh at his boyfriend’s excitement. The casual use of the word ‘love’ hardly fazed him – Ned had said things like that to Peter long before they had begun dating and it wouldn’t have been a conversation about the Avengers without it used at least once. Didn’t mean Peter wasn’t going to let the opportunity to tease him about it go by.

“Who are you texting? I can hardly hear myself think with all that beeping going on!” Happy’s gruff tone erupted Peter mid-text and he looked up at the older man in surprise. Happy hardly ever initiated conversation unless he thought something was wrong, like when he thought Peter was being suspiciously quiet, and it was unexpected that he would say anything when Peter was talking to someone else and therefore _not_ bothering Happy.

“Oh, sorry Happy! I’ll turn the sound off. I’m just texting Ned.” Peter replied, already looking down at his phone. He would finish the message then change his settings. He was pretty sure he was going to spend the entire ride talking to Ned and he could always just turn the sound back on when they got to the Compound. _So you’d only love me if I got you access to Avengers?_ He added a thinking and crying emoji to the end of the text for good measure before sending it and flicking the volume off on his phone.

Ned’s reply took a little longer than the others and Happy had made their way out of the busiest city streets by the time Peter’s phone vibrated where he had dropped it on his lap. _I’d love you anyway because you’re SM. Avengers are just a perk!_ Peter couldn’t help but laugh at the response. At least Ned was always honest with him.

_What about just me? Or is SM the only one you care about?_

Ned’s reply was nearly instant again. _You know I love your dorkiness but lets be real, the 2 hottest things about you are your flexibility and your strength and those are both SM things._ Peter had made the mistake of taking a drink from his water bottle as he opened the message and he choked trying not to spit it out all over Mr. Stark’s immaculate car. The rather violent sounding choking fit that followed got him another, much more alarmed glance from Happy.

“Are you dying back there? What’s going on?” The concern in Happy’s voice was obvious and Peter knew by the sound of it that Happy was seconds away from pulling the car over to check on Peter fully. He had done it before, despite his strict don’t-care-a-bit-about-you attitude.

“S-s-sorry, Happy.” Peter coughed out, slapping himself on the chest. “Water went down the wrong way.” Happy had slowed the car down some, staring intently at Peter through the rearview mirror, undoubtedly trying to see if he could catch the boy in a lie. Peter, who would rather get punched by Captain America again than tell Happy what had actually made him choke on water, tried to plaster on an innocent, sheepish smile to reassure the old bodyguard. It might not have worked – Happy seemed like he was about to demand more information – had the car trailing behind them not angrily honked their horn and diverted Happy’s attention. Happy made several loud, angry statements, most involving the other driver and some anatomically impossible positions, and sped up the car once more.

Peter sighed silently in relief and turned back to his phone, a faint warmth still in his cheeks. _Dude you are not allowed to just say things like that! Gotta give a guy a warning first!_

 _Am I not allowed to say what I find attractive about my bf?_ Peter could picture the faux-innocent smile Ned used when he made statements like that and his face flushed a little more. He didn’t think he would ever get used to the very casual way Ned flirted with him, even if he enjoyed it immensely.

 _Not when I’m trying to drink water! I choked and Happy thought I was dying! I’m lucky NY drivers are jerks or he would have asked questions!_ Ned’s response, rather than being sympathetic to Peter’s plight, was a series of laughing-crying emojis. Peter hadn’t expected anything less though and he simply rolled his eyes, a fond smile in place, and began to ask Ned what his plans for the day were.

The rest of the drive passed in a blur of texts and Happy was pulling up to the Avenger’s Compound before Peter had even realized that the two hours it took to get there had passed. He slid his phone into his pocket as Happy swiped his security badge over a keypad to open the private garage Mr. Stark had built under the residential quarter of the Compound. It was smaller and separate from the one that housed the official vehicles and quinjets but Peter liked it better – it housed several rows of unique, beautiful, and undoubtedly expensive cars as well as some of the private vehicles the other Avengers had left behind when they went on the run. Peter himself was not much of a car person but he could appreciate the look and feel of the ones in this garage as well as the privilege of being one of the few who saw them.

He was half tempted to try and record a video of them – Ned absolutely loved cars – but he was pretty sure Happy would take his phone away if he saw Peter recording and he was already on pretty thin ice with the older man after the coughing incident. It was better not to press his luck and end up with no phone for the weekend. So Peter kept his phone hidden away in his pocket to avoid the temptation and waited until Happy had fully parked before jumping out of the car. The first time Peter had been invited to the Compound, back when Mr. Stark had tested him with the fake invitation to the Avengers, he had been so excited that he hadn’t even waited for Happy to park before opening the car door and jumping out in excitement. But Happy had told him that if he ever did it again, he would start implementing the child locks and leave Peter inside whenever he was super annoying so Peter was careful to keep himself in check.

His phone began vibrating again as he and Happy made their way to the elevator and he pulled it out while Happy swiped his pass to call the elevator down. He grinned when he saw that Ned had sent him another picture. Ned had told him earlier that he had plans to meet with MJ for breakfast and the image he had sent was a picture of the two of them squished together in one of the small tables at their favorite breakfast spot. Ned had leaned over the table to be next to MJ and he was grinning widely while MJ stared impassively at the camera, her middle finger casually placed over her top lip. Ned had managed to get their plates of food in the picture as well and Peter could clearly see the harvest peach French toast MJ always ordered as well as what appeared to be a Spanish-style omelet that must have been Ned’s.

The omelet caught Peter’s attention fairly quickly and he bit back a chuckle. Of course Ned had ordered an omelet. It was just another thing the other boy was not going to let him live down. _Looking good! Tell MJ I say hi!_ , he typed as he followed Happy into the elevator, nearly walking into the older man as he turned to press the button for the third floor.

“Really, kid?” Happy asked gruffly as he put an arm out to stop Peter. Peter hardly looked up from his phone as he settled into the corner away from Happy.

“Sorry!” He told him absently as his phone buzzed with a new message. _MJ says hi back. Well actually she said she hoped you were miserable at your overly capitalist internship but I think that’s how she shows her love._ Peter grinned and began typing up a response, hardly aware of the increasingly annoyed adult next to him.

“Jesus, kid. Who the hell are you talking this much to?” Happy finally snapped as the elevator came to a slow stop. Peter finally looked up from his phone to give Happy a confused look.

“I told you I was talking to Ned.” He answered, making his way out of the elevator and turning back to look at Happy.

“’Ned’, really? ‘Cause you’re acting like you got yourself a girlfriend.” Happy told him, bringing up his hands and mimicking texting on an invisible phone. Peter flushed slightly, unsure how exactly to respond. He didn’t want to lie but he also didn’t know how Happy felt about two boys dating. Happy was a gruff person but Peter had grown accustomed and fond to the older man and he knew, however grudging Happy was about admitting it, that it was the same for the old bodyguard. He must have waited too long to respond, however, because Happy’s eyebrows rose and he began speaking again, “shit, kid. Are you actually dating someone? What kind of girl is she, to put up with you?”

Peter decided to ignore the insult in Happy’s words, knowing that it was just second nature for the man to be acerbic, as he fidgeted slightly under the other man’s gaze. Happy already figured he was dating someone and it wasn’t like Peter could convince him otherwise. And the older man would undoubtedly find out eventually, if what Mr. Stark had said about a group text between him, Happy, and May was true. It would be better for Peter to be honest about it now rather than have Happy making his own assumptions. Besides, Happy had made a career working for Mr. Stark; surely two boys dating was not the most outrageous thing he had seen or heard about.

Peter looked back down at his phone rather than at Happy, drawing strength at the fact that, if this did go wrong, Ned or May was only a few buttons away and either of them would be willing to comfort him. “Actually Happy,” he began before he could stop himself. “I am dating someone.” He forced himself to say the words calmly as his fingers gripped tightly against his phone.

“Really?” There was surprised amusement in Happy’s gruff voice and Peter found himself flushing even as the older man continued. “Who the hell is it? Is it that MJ girl?” Peter nearly laughed at the idea of dating MJ. Not that she wasn’t a great person – MJ was an aloof but loyal friend – but Peter couldn’t imagine dating her. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t survive it.

“Definitely not. It’s actually, well – funny thing really, Happy.” Peter rambled, darting a glance at the taller man. Happy just gave him a confused, annoyed look and folded his arms over his chest. Peter was intimately familiar with Happy’s patented just-get-on-with-it look and he forced the words out before he could back out, “it’snotagirlatall.” He breathed out a tad too quickly and continued before Happy had a chance to respond. “it’s Ned.”

Peter looked up at Happy’s face when he finished speaking, waiting for a response with bated breath. It took the older man a moment to make out what Peter had meant but Peter could see the exact moment it hit him, as his widened almost comically as he finally made sense of it. “Oh.” Happy said. “That makes a lot of sense, actually,” the older man added and Peter breathed a little easier. Happy definitely didn’t sound disapproving, just a little surprised and a tad bit uncomfortable that he had found himself in the situation of a teenaged superhero coming out to him. “You both are obsessive idiots.” He continued, a bit of his normal grumpiness back in his tone as he clapped a hand against Peter’s shoulder. “Just keep the phone away. You’re in one of the most secure and important buildings in the United States because Tony Stark called you here. Show some respect.”

Peter’s smile was bright enough to fill the room and he hastily nodded as he slid his phone back into his pocket. “Of course! It’s just really new, you know? And this is my first weekend away since we started dating, so I kind of miss him and wish I was back in Queens with him. Not that I’m not honored that Mr. Stark wants my help or anything, I am. It’s just something I have to get used to, I guess.” Peter rambled happily. Happy shot him a disgruntled look.

“Didn’t ask. Keep the romance talk to your aunt.” Happy told him, discomfort obvious in his tone. Peter stopped immediately but couldn’t help but bite back a little bit at the older man.

“You kind of did, when you asked me if I was dating someone. If you didn’t want me to talk about it, you shouldn’t have asked!” Peter told him. Happy really should have known by now that asking Peter any sort of question was bound to get a long and potentially overly-detailed response.

“It was a joke! Didn’t want an actual report on your teenage love life.” The older man said, exasperation clear in his tone. Peter opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by another voice echoing from down the hall.

“What’s this about a teenage love life?” Peter and Happy both turned to the end of the hall and Peter flushed pink at the sight of Tony Stark, for once casually dressed in jeans and a t-shirt featuring some old band on the front, making his way down the hallway towards them.

“It’s nothing, Mr. Stark!” Peter was quick to say before Happy could get anything out. Telling Happy about dating Ned was one thing. Telling Tony Stark was quite another and Peter was pretty sure he would die from the embarrassment if Mr. Stark knew about it. Even if it was Mr. Stark’s advice that helped him get Ned in the first place.

Tony Stark shot Peter an unimpressed look, stopping just in front of the two of them. “You’re a terrible liar Underoos, and we are definitely returning to this discussion later, but for now we have actual business to discuss.” Peter straightened up at that, Mr. Stark’s words finally sending a hum of excitement through him. He may not have wanted to be here, but there was still something inexplicably thrilling about Tony _Stark_ calling him for help.

“O-of course Mr. Stark! I’m here to help with whatever you need!” Peter said quickly, hoping beyond hope that Mr. Stark would gloss over the way his voice cracked when he first began speaking. He couldn’t help but bounce upwards on his toes some. “Is there another fight that you need help with? Is it aliens? That would we be crazy cool. Well, not cool as in awesome but cool like-” Mr. Stark held a hand up, seemingly torn between amusement and annoyance at Peter’s ramblings.

“Calm yourself, Spider-ling. Your unreasonably attractive aunt would kill me if I allowed you to give yourself a heart attack in front of me.” Peter let himself fall back flat on his feet and tried to adopt a serious expression as Mr. Stark continued speaking. “There are no aliens and I did not call you here for fighting.” He said matter-of-factly and Peter tried to keep the disappoint off his face. He wasn’t sure why else Mr. Stark would bring him to the mostly empty Avengers Compound.

Mr. Stark must have been able to read some of his confusion on his face because he began to speak again. “Can you keep a secret, Pete?” The older man asked, turning and looping a casual hand on Peter’s shoulder as he forced him to begin walking with him. Peter was dimly aware of Happy taking his cue to disappear to wherever it was he went when he didn’t want to deal with the whirlwind that was Tony Stark. Or perhaps Mr. Stark had dismissed him with a wave of a hand behind Peter’s back; it could go either way.

“Of course, Mr. Stark.” He answered, trying to keep annoyance out of his voice while also focusing on not tripping on his own feet as he was half-dragged alongside the old billionaire. He had kept Spider-Man mostly a secret and he didn’t understand why everyone around him seemed to think that didn’t count.

“Because we’re on a time crunch, I’m going to be nice and not list all the people you failed to keep your _secret_ identity secret from.” Mr. Stark retorted as he turned and led Peter down another hallway. It wasn’t one Peter recognized and he was momentarily thrown when the hall ended with a set of imposing metal doors. Mr. Stark dropped his hand from Peter’s shoulder and reached out towards a touchpad that would undoubtedly unlock the door.

“Why are we on a time crunch?” Peter asked as he watched Mr. Stark type a code in quick succession and then bend down for a retinal scan.

“All will be explained in good time, Spider-ling.” Mr. Stark responded, a bit of a mischievous, cheerful tone in his voice, as the doors in front of them slowly slid open.

“Welcome back, sir. Good morning, Mr. Parker.” F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s pleasant voice rang out as Mr. Stark gestured for Peter to step forward and into the room. Peter did so without hesitation and had to force himself to not look surprised as he took in the massive room. It was obviously a living area, with one half of the space devoted to a very large gourmet style kitchen complete with a huge, round dining table, and the other half done up as a living room with elegant heather gray couches and the largest television Peter had ever seen mounted onto the wall. A large staircase in the center of the area divided the space.

“Welcome to the Avenger’s official living quarters. Currently home to exactly one Avenger and his very lovely fiancée.” Mr. Stark’s voice behind him pulled Peter back to the present and he turned towards the older man, his surprise quickly turning to confusion. “Technically this is just the communal area, meant for team meetings and bonding activities. Also, I’ve been told the common people would eat food in there. There are bedrooms both upstairs and down that hallway.” Mr. Stark pointed to an unlit hallway that sprouted out from the living room. “Me and Pepp have a suite on the top floor. That’s where you would have been staying had you come here when your Aunt was out, by the way.”

Peter’s confusion only grew. He wasn’t an Avenger and as far as he knew, Mr. Stark had no intention of offering him a real invitation to the Avengers. Peter was also pretty sure if he did offer him anything of the sort before his eighteenth birthday, May would legitimately kill him. “Mr. Stark?” He cocked his head up at the older man, unsure how to phrase his question.

He knew Mr. Stark had been in talks with several high-level government officials, both US and domestic, to try and rework the Accords and bring the rogue Avengers home, but he also knew that Mr. Stark was staunchly against Peter - or Spider-Man, more specifically - coming anywhere near the Accords and that the other Avengers, particularly the ones who sided with Captain America in Germany, were an incredibly sore spot for him. So Peter had never asked about them, only took the small snippets that he got during their Sunday meetings for his internship. Which meant he had no idea how to ask a question about why he was standing in an unused room devoted to them.

“I’m trusting you with an adult secret here, Pete.” Mr. Stark began, ignoring the confused half-question the younger boy had asked, as he made his way into the massive kitchen. Peter followed him instinctively and nearly jumped back when the man made it to the large circular table and suddenly turned back to him. “This, here,” Mr. Stark used one finger to point between himself and Peter, “is real talk. And it doesn’t leave this room until I give the okay. You can’t tell May or your Guy in the Chair – Ted or whatever – or that girl you were crushing on. Nobody. Lots of trust here, Pete.”

Peter’s interest was doubly peaked and he didn’t even bother correcting Mr. Stark about Ned’s name or that he hadn’t been crushing on a girl, but instead nodded emphatically. He could handle keeping whatever Mr. Stark told him quiet, especially when he knew the older man was putting so much trust in him. Mr. Stark stared down at him for several moments, a surprisingly conflicted expression on the old mechanic’s face. Peter was struck by the fact that this was one of the first time he had seen Mr. Stark seem out of his depth – he had seen the man aloof, professional, mocking, annoyed, proud, annoyed, happy, and irate but he had never once seen him lost. It was a surprisingly human expression.

“You don’t have to tell me, Mr. Stark.” Peter said immediately, before he had even thought the words through. He didn’t like the idea of being someone who made Mr. Stark feel uncomfortable, even if it meant that he had to give up knowing what must have been Top-Secret information. Peter’s words seemed to snap Mr. Stark out of whatever inner conflict he had been having and the older man’s expression was immediately replaced by one of practiced amusement.

“Trust me, if I didn’t have to, I wouldn’t be sharing confidential information with a fifteen-year-old intern.” Peter frowned a little at that. Mr. Stark rarely, if ever, referred to Peter as an actual intern. He was pretty sure the only time he had heard it was when there had been press camped outside Stark Industries one Sunday because someone inside had leaked Peter’s presence and Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts had to quickly quell some rumors about who Peter was. Peter had been mortified to hear one of interviewers suggest that Peter was Mr. Stark’s illegitimate child that had been kept secret for his whole life but Mr. Stark had answered calmly with a laugh and an explanation that Peter was the first recipient of a brand-new internship targeted towards gifted high schoolers. It was incredibly odd that Mr. Stark was referring to that now, as they stood inside the Avengers’ kitchen.

“But unfortunately for the both of us, I happen to have a fifteen-year-old intern who secretly doubles as a superheroic vigilante who fought in Germany and deserves to know what is going on.” Mr. Stark continued, acting very much as if the words pained him. Peter wasn’t convinced that it was entirely an act. “An agreement on the Accords have been met.” Peter’s jaw dropped. He hadn’t been expecting Mr. Stark to just blurt _that_ out.

“Wha-what? That’s fantastic! So the other Avengers can come back, then? That’s awes- uh,” Peter immediately deflated at the unreadable expression on Mr. Stark’s face. “I mean, that is good right? You’ve been working for them to get pardoned, right?” Peter was worried for a moment that he had said exactly the wrong thing as Mr. Stark remained silent for several long moments. Then, the older man let out a dramatic sigh and leaned against the table.

“It is a good thing, kid.” He admitted. “But that means we need to go over what that means for you and for Spider-Man.” He continued, shooting Peter a very serious look. “Agent Barton and Mr. Lang – that’s the tiny man who could turn giant that knocked you out of the sky at the tarmac, he goes by Ant-Man, aptly enough– were already released from their house-arrest and word has been sent out to Captain Rogers and the others who escaped abroad that they can return. They will all meet here at the end of the week for the pardoning and to sign an agreement about the Accords.” Peter nodded slowly, trying to figure out where he fit into all of this.

“And Spider-Man needs to be here too, to sign?” He asked finally, unsure how he should feel about the prospect. The Peter Parker part of him wanted to jump up and down in screaming excitement at the idea of seeing the Avengers again and text all the information immediately to Ned, but the Spider-Man part, who remembered quite vividly the pain from their last meeting and was weary about the prospect of being in a room with skilled spies and heroes as well as a bunch of government officials and press, was a lot more hesitant.

“Absolutely not.” Mr. Stark’s response was surprisingly vehement. “Kid, the talks took twice as long as they should’ve so I could keep Spider-Man as far away from the Accords and out of the mouths of all those government dick-heads as possible.” Peter tried and failed to keep the surprise off his face. Mr. Stark was normally fairly careful about not cursing in front of Peter – he’d once jokingly said that Ms. Potts would have his tongue if she caught him saying anything inappropriate in front of a child – and the last time he had been this vocal about something was when he had been standing furiously on a nearly sunken ferry.

“I – I’m not sure why I’m here then.” Peter finally said, hating that he couldn’t figure it out on his own. Mr. Stark’s face pinched in thinly controlled annoyance. Peter was unsure if the annoyance was directed at him specifically or was just a by-product from the stress Mr. Stark must’ve been under.

“So I can explain all this to you before it hits the news feeds. And so I can tell you what exactly you need to do. Part of the agreement in the New Accords is that ‘no Avengers-affiliated hero will be restricted from acting upon a threat if they can prove after the fact that the threat posed immediate danger’, but it also states that all Avengers-affiliated heroes and their actions must be transparent to whatever governments they are working in. That means they cannot enter a country or do their work under false pretenses or a pseudonym. Obviously, that would not work for Spider-Man.” Mr. Stark paused then, so the words could hit Peter fully. Peter stared at the older man, trying not to feel panicked. Mr. Stark had already said he wouldn’t be signing the papers but just the very thought that Peter had come so close to being outed was a terrifying prospect.

“I convinced the douches-in-charge to excuse Spider-Man from that because, apart from Germany, Spider-Man has never been affiliated with any of the Avengers nor has he worked outside his own country and he mostly works to stop local crime rather than international crises.” Mr. Stark continued. “As long as Spider-Man continues to work in such a capacity, he will not be subjected to the New Accords or forced to reveal himself. It helped a lot that King T’Challa, as the Black Panther, was excused from signing on similar grounds, but it was still a huge pain in the ass to get it done. So I need you to go along with it. You want to stay close to the ground as a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, I want you to stay close to the ground as a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and your aunt would kill me if you didn’t stay close to the ground as a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man; so that’s what you have to do.”

“Of course, Mr. Stark.” Peter said immediately, relief flooding him. Now that he knew what the Accords required, he didn’t want to be within a hundred feet of them. He would give up the mantle before putting May or Ned or anyone else he knew into danger by revealing who he was. He would do it without hesitation, but he was fairly certain he would not survive the crushing sorrow that would follow the action.

Mr. Stark watched him for a moment with sharp eyes, gauging how serious Peter was taking his words, before he continued. “That leaves us with the slight problem of your “internship”. Obviously, I’m not going to abandon you to figure out this superhero thing on your own, but Spider-Man and Iron Man cannot be seen closely associated. I already had a hell of a time explaining how Spider-Man managed to go from fighting crime in a onesie to a highly technical, incredibly powerful super-suit between the early Youtube days and the fight in Germany, so we can’t risk anybody getting wind that Spider-Man and Iron Man have regular contact.”

“Not even the other Avengers?” Peter couldn’t help but ask. Mr. Stark’s expression seemed to darken for a moment before he smoothed it out.

“Not even them, for now. They know obviously that I worked with Spider-Man in Germany, but they have no reason to assume that the contact has continued. And it’s the kind of information that, if we forced them to keep, could jeopardize their standing with the New Accords. It wouldn’t be good for us or fair to them to force them in that situation.” Peter nodded in understanding. He couldn’t help but feel glad that, even though he wasn’t a child, he still had someone older that understood the politics of the matter to help him through this. He didn’t know what he would have done if he had been approached separately and forced to deal with all of this himself.

“What are we going to do about the “internship”?” Peter asked. He knew Mr. Stark had already said he wasn’t going to throw Peter back to the wolves but that didn’t mean he wasn’t worried that they were going to revert back to what they were before the Moving Day fiasco, where Peter had no contact with the older man except through Happy.

“Well, I can’t be seen with Spider-Man, but no one is going to bat an eye at a small, dweeby teenager hanging around as an unpaid, glorified servant.” Mr. Stark responded, a bit of his cheerfulness back in his tone now. “Of course, your internship currently consists of us working on almost exclusively Spider-Man things and there is no way that will work with the Black Widow back in the States. She’ll sniff out the truth before the week is out. However, if I brought someone in to work on all superhero related things - especially a bright, starry-eyed and completely innocent looking teenager who just wants to help the world in whatever way possible – with me, they’ll just chalk it up to me being insane rather than secretly working with a teenaged Spider-Man. And if that kid gets caught working on some Spider-Man things, they’ll at least just assume I’m helping the vigilante with some tech and not think that Spider-Man is actually a teenaged intern. They already think I’m crazy anyway, so it’s not that unbelievable that I’d randomly choose to start working with some genius high schooler.”

Peter frowned at the self-deprecating way Mr. Stark spoke about himself, but all his negative thoughts about it flew out the window when he realized what Mr. Stark was offering him and he turned incredibly wide eyes towards the older man. “You mean – Are you saying – I get to work on Avengers tech?” Peter tried to keep his voice level but he couldn’t help the way his pitch rose to a near shriek with his excitement. For that one simple fact, it was suddenly absolutely worth having to come to the Compound for the whole weekend and miss spending time with Ned.

Mr. Stark was full on smirking at Peter’s reaction, now. “That is what I’m saying, Underoos. You get to put your sticky hands on all the best Avengers tech and you don’t even have to snatch it from anyone’s hands this time. It’s the least you can do, after all, when you are partially responsible for damaging some of the new stuff anyway. We’ve got a lot of work to do before Monday comes and I have to ship you back to the city. If you agree?” He added, an obviously teasing tone in his voice. Peter nodded immediately.

“Absolutely! Oh my God, Mr. Stark! This is the greatest – this is amazing – I can’t believe – thank you!” Peter knew he wasn’t making much sense but he couldn’t find himself caring much. The very prospect of working on Avengers’ material – of getting it ready for the heroes coming back Friday – was a dream come true. It was second only to the prospect of one day fighting alongside them, rather than against them. Peter would have to wait a long time for that opportunity, if it ever occurred at all, but this one was easily within his grasp.

“Glad you agree, kid. Come with me and we’ll head down to the lab. There’s a private elevator up in my and Pepper’s apartment that leads straight down to the lab here.” Mr. Stark placed a hand on the still-awed Peter’s shoulder once more and firmly led him to the stairs. “While we work, you can tell me all about that teenaged romance you and Happy were blabbing about.” Mr. Stark added, voice deceptively innocent. Peter immediately flushed. He’d forgotten that Mr. Stark had overheard him and Happy.

“I-it’s nothing, Mr. Stark.” He replied, trying to sound innocent as the pair made their way up the stairs.

“Oh, come now, Underoos. You talked to Happy about dating but you won’t talk to me? That hurts. That really hurts my feelings. And after I listened to a million of your questions and gave you advice? I’m heartbroken.” Mr. Stark lamented as they started up a second staircase. Peter fidgeted slightly as they made their way up, trying to hide the wave of embarrassment that came with Mr. Stark’s words. Memories of May laughing hysterically when Ned had shown her the Notebook fought hard to redden his cheeks.

“We weren’t really talking about anything, Mr. Stark. Happy was just teasing me about texting.” A half-truth, but at least not an outright lie. Peter was really glad that they had reached Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts’ floor, where the old mechanic had to lead Peter to where they were going and was therefore unable to see the younger hero’s face.

“You really are a terrible liar.” Mr. Stark cheerfully responded as he quickly led Peter through the smaller but still elegantly furnished living room that the staircase opened up to, towards a small elevator tucked discreetly into a corner. Had Peter been without Mr. Stark, he probably wouldn’t have found it all, as it blended nearly seamlessly into the wall. It opened automatically as Mr. Stark approached – probably the work of F.R.I.D.A.Y. – and Mr. Stark herded Peter inside before pressing the bottom button. “At least tell me if you took my advice on that girl?” He implored, turning to look at Peter as the elevator started its descent. Peter forced himself not to fidget under the older man’s gaze.

“I did not take your advice about that girl.” Peter replied. It wasn’t a lie and therefore he didn’t have to feel guilty about it. It wasn’t his fault that Mr. Stark had assumed he was talking about a girl, all those weeks ago.

“Why not, Pete?” Mr. Stark threw his hands up in slight exasperation as the elevator came to a stop. “You were pretty gung-ho about telling her how you felt when you left.” He added as he turned to leave the elevator, Peter following closely behind. For a moment, he was tempted to tell Mr. Stark – he really had been a help and probably deserved to know – but telling him that he had taken the advice, at least partially, meant that Mr. Stark would pester him with a thousand and one questions until Peter told the entire story about how he and Ned had gotten together and he was pretty sure he would actually die from the mortification of Mr. Stark knowing about the Notebook.

So, Peter did what any tech-obsessed teenager trying to avoid a conversation would do – he deflected by fanboying over the lab all around him. “This is amazing!” He exclaimed, only partially faking his excitement. It truly was an amazing lab, bigger even than the one at Stark Industries, and fully equipped with not only all the top of the line materials one expected to find in a Stark workshop, but also with two very excited, overeager robots that immediately made their way over to them.

“Yes, hello Dum-E. And hi to you too, U.” Mr. Stark calmly responded to the two robots, patting each absentmindedly before striding into the room and over to the central work table, where Peter could see several plans already pulled up on large floating screens. Mr. Stark must have already been working when Peter and Happy showed up. Peter didn’t follow Mr. Stark immediately but stayed behind to greet the robots. He had heard about the two of them, of course, Mr. Stark often complained about them even if they weren’t in the lab at Stark Industries but seeing them himself was another experience entirely. They were easily the most adorable robots Peter had ever met and he took great pleasure out of shaking each of their mechanical claws. He then pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the two bots crowding curiously around him to send to Ned. His boyfriend would absolutely love them.

“Don’t take pictures of the bots, Kid.” Mr. Stark called over his shoulder, not even bothering to look up from whatever he had begun tinkering with. Peter had no idea how he had noticed but figured Mr. Stark just had that innate adult sense of a child doing something they weren’t supposed to. “It makes them full of themselves.” Mr. Stark added.

“Are you sure they aren’t just taking after their father?” Peter couldn’t help but reply, a grin teasing the edges of his lips as he hit send on the picture before sliding his phone back into his pocket and making his way towards Mr. Stark.

“Offense. That is offensive and slander!” Mr. Stark’s voice rose dramatically as he gestured accusingly at Peter with his hand. Peter just laughed as he came to stand next to Mr. Stark and peered down to see what he was working on. Sitting on the counter were two thin black bracelets, each equipped with a simple silver charm in the center. “For Nat – Black Widow, to you.” Mr. Stark explained, picking up one of the bracelets, gingerly. Peter could clearly see the silvery glint of the metal as Mr. Stark held it to the light.

“What’s it do?” Peter asked, having spent enough time in Mr. Stark’s labs to know that the most innocuous looking things could easily be the most lethal.

“It’s a bracelet, kid.” Mr. Stark deadpanned, slipping the bracelet onto his own wrist. Peter watched as the metal automatically expanded to fit over Mr. Stark’s and then tightened enough that it could hang loosely on his wrist but not fall off. “Surely your aunt has some jewelry.”

“I know what a bracelet is!” Peter shot an annoyed look up at the old inventor. “I didn’t think Ms. Romanoff was the type to like pretty trinkets.” He added, frowning slightly at the thin circle of metal. Peter liked when he could figure things out on his own but he couldn’t quite figure out how the bracelet could be a weapon.

Mr. Stark just smirked. “Like most beautiful women, Nat likes beautiful things. But she also likes deadly things.” Mr. Stark said as he flicked his finger lightly across the silver charm on the bracelet. More of the thin metal came out from where it must have been coiled inside the charm before it snapped open and Mr. Stark deftly flicked his wrist so that it fell into his palm. Then he wrapped the wire across both his palms and pulled it tight between them.

“A garrote.” Peter said. It was a simple tool, but he had no doubt that it would be utterly devastating in Ms. Romanoff’s hands.

“Yup! Simple, but effective. Before Nat left-” Peter thought ‘left’ was a bit of an understatement but he knew well enough not to mention it. He was pretty sure that Ms. Romanoff’s sudden shift in Germany – when she had allowed Captain Rogers to leave – was something that had particularly hurt Mr. Stark. “she’d been badgering me to develop some more simple weapons into jewelry that she could hide easily during her reconnaissance missions. Hence, these pretty but deadly little bracelets. I also got a new version of her Widow Bites drawn up that will make then thinner and pack a bigger bite drawn up as well as some anklet versions. I figured these weapons are a good place to get you started on developing Avengers gear. And Nat will need a lot of them, anyway. Woman’s strong as hell and she tends to break weapons easily. Or leave them with her victims. Changes with her mood, I think.”

Peter tried not to think about the Black Widow’s victims as he ran a tentative finger across the bracelets. He knew the Avengers had no qualms killing villains – knew the man standing next to him had killed a fair few – but it was still something he avoided at all costs. He didn’t think there would be any part of him ever ready for that part of a hero’s job.

“They seem simple. I can definitely crank out a bunch of them, Mr. Stark.” He said, looking up at the older man. Mr. Stark clapped his hands together in response.

“Excellent! Plan for them is right here-” Mr. Stark slid a thin piece of blue paper over to Peter, “and all the materials are in that container over there-” Mr. Stark pointed to a plastic bin on the table that he must have been working with. “I’m going to need like ten made while I get started on the new Widow’s Bites.” Peter nodded in agreement, already sliding onto one of the stools sat around the table, fingers thrumming with excitement as he reached in to pull out the thin coils of wire and the other materials he needed. He couldn’t believe that he was sitting next to Mr. Stark, working on making garrote-bracelets for Black Widow. It was incredible and he couldn’t wait until Mr. Stark gave him the go-ahead to tell Ned all about it. The other boy was going to _flip_.

As if he had sensed Peter thinking about him, Peter’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he immediately dropped the materials in his hand to fish out his phone from his pocket. Mr. Stark never minded Peter using his phone, as long as he was also productive enough to get through whatever task he’d been assigned. It had never been a problem before.

 _Are those Mr S’s robots? They look awesome!_ Peter smiled. He knew Ned would fall in love with the two little robots.

 _Dum-E and U. They’re really cute! They gave me a handshake when I came in! But Mr S says Im not allowed to take any more pics of them because they get bigheaded._ Peter hit send and set his phone carefully down on the work table besides him and picked up the small mechanism that the excess coil would be wrapped up in. It was already half constructed. Before he could finish it off, his phone buzzed again and he was quick to pick it up.

 _Is he sure they aren’t just taking after him?_ Peter had to bite back his snort as he read Ned’s latest message.

 _That’s what I said! But Mr S didn’t appreciate my wisdom._ He typed quickly, not noticing the way Mr. Stark glanced at him as he used his phone. He set it back down once more and returned to the bracelet, smiling softly. The rest of the charm mechanism was finished quickly and Peter had begun the process of carefully twisting the incredibly thin wires together when his phone buzzed again.

 _The fool. Everyone should appreciate your wisdom. Among other things._ Ned’s words were followed by a winking emoji, making it fairly obvious even to Peter what he meant. A furious blush bloomed over his cheeks as he read the message. He went to respond but before he could, a tanned hand shot out and pulled the phone from his hand too quickly for him to react.

“Mr. Stark!” Peter tried to keep the shocked shrillness from his voice as he looked up at the older man. He didn’t know when Mr. Stark had moved next to Peter but he was standing above him now, an amused expression on his face as he dangled Peter’s phone casually in one hand. Peter stared in horror at the small cracked screen, still open to Ned’s messages with Peter’s half written response waiting to be sent. All Mr. Stark had to do was look down and he would be able to see all of it. That thought alone made Peter want to crawl under the table and be swallowed by the ground.

“Who’re you texting, Underoos?” Mr. Stark asked casually, a smirk twisting the corners of his lips as he looked down at the teenager.

“N-nobody!” Peter squeaked. Mr. Stark raised a single eyebrow at him.

“Really? _Nobody_ is what you’re going with here? I invite you into the most secured lab in the entire United States to work on gear for the _Avengers_ – something that is undoubtedly your little nerd heart’s greatest wish – and not only do you spend the time grinning and blushing at your phone but you try to tell me you are talking to nobody? Put some effort into it, kid, try again.” Peter was pretty sure he was as red as a tomato at this point. He was extremely flustered as he watched Mr. Stark with his phone, terrified that the man would look down at the screen – that was the only way to explain what came out of his mouth next.

“It’s just May!” He blurted out before instantly regretting it. Obviously, it wasn’t his aunt. That was even worse than saying nobody. “She was checking in to make sure I got here safe,” Peter couldn’t get his mouth to close. “you know how she worries and stuff.” 

"May, huh?” Mr. Stark’s voice was deceptively quiet. “You wouldn’t mind if I just sent her a quick text to say hello, then?” Mr. Stark made to pull Peter’s phone up towards his face. Peter, panicking, reacted immediately. He lifted his wrist and shot a string of webbing at the phone before jerking it back out of the older man’s hands. He pulled too hard, however, and rather than bringing the phone back to him, it crashed onto the floor behind him. Peter winced at the loud thud it made on the floor and scrambled to get to it, pointedly ignoring the way Mr. Stark stood laughing at the whole scene.

Peter’s screen had already had a large crack at the top corner but it was positively _shattered_ now and the screen remained stubbornly black no matter how many times Peter frantically hit the home button. May was going to _kill_ him. “Oh shit. Please, no!” Peter began whispering as he continued tapping the home button, hoping for any response. “Shit, shit, shit.”

“Hey, calm down, Pete. And watch the language.” The older mechanic told him, coming forward to inspect the damage on the phone. At least he had stopped laughing. Not that that made Peter feel better.

“May’s going to kill me!” He rounded on the older man. “This is totally your fault!” He added, unable to keep a bit of anger out from his voice.

“My fault?” Mr. Stark asked, incredulous. Peter nodded emphatically, pointing at the older man angrily. “How is it _my_ fault? I didn’t ask you to fling your phone across the lab!”

“It _is_ your fault! If you hadn’t taken my phone and gone to look at it, I wouldn’t have done that!” Peter insisted, fighting the urge to fold his arms across his chest. May had told him that made him look like a pouting twelve-year-old one time and he had fought not to do it again ever since.

“Alright, I’ll give that one to you. It was a bad move on my part, invasion of privacy and all that.” Mr. Stark responded, waving a hand casually. Peter stared at him suspiciously. Mr. Stark hardly ever admitted he was wrong about anything. “Hand me the phone and I’ll see what I can do.” Peter’s suspicions deepened. His hesitancy must have shown on his face because Mr. Stark scoffed at him. “I’m not going to try to read your texts or anything. Just going to see if I can fix the phone before your aunt finds out. Although you really should just get a new one. This model is old and Apple sucks anyway. I have some new Stark phone prototypes around here somewhere, I’m pretty sure.” The older man held his hand out as he rambled, and after a moment’s hesitation, Peter gingerly put the broken phone into his hand.

“Sorry I yelled at you.” Peter told him, trying not to fiddle with his sleeves. Mr. Stark had just been being Mr. Stark and that was no reason for Peter to snap at him like he did.

The older man waved away the apology. “You’re a teenager. And I was being pushy. Pep says I have to work on pushy. You don’t have to tell me who you were texting. I’m just glad to see that some of my wisdom got through your teenage mind and you managed to get that girl you liked.” He added, unable to help himself to one more shot at Peter. Peter, in response, blushed pink.

“I-” Peter began, but Mr. Stark waved him off once more as he started walking back over to the work table, broken phone in hand.

“Yeah, yeah. You were talking to your _aunt_. I get it. Now come back here and get back to the bracelets before I kick you out for being useless to me.” Peter’s blush darkened but he obediently returned to the table, trying and failing not to glance at the phone still in Mr. Stark’s hands. “Relax, kid. If I can fix this ridiculous waste of materials you insist on calling a cell phone, I won’t read any of the messages. I’m not actually interested in whatever ridiculous teenage nonsense counts as flirting these days. Especially because I’m sure you and your girlfriend are awful at it, even by today’s standards.”

“Actually, he’s pretty good at flirting.” Peter responded absently, picking up the half-twisted wires he had abandoned on the worktop and beginning to twist it more. A moment of silence followed Peter’s statement, a rarity when in the lab with Mr. Stark, and Peter glanced up from the mostly twisted wires in his hand to see what was wrong. Mr. Stark had Peter’s phone opened up into two halves in front of him and for a split second, Peter thought that Mr. Stark’s silence was due to his focus on the phone. Then he saw Mr. Stark’s face – the man was staring at Peter, eyebrows raised nearly to his hairline – and Peter felt his confusion grow. “Did I say something weird?” he asked finally, staring at Mr. Stark with confusion.

The older man continued to stare at Peter, the surprise on his face morphing into incredulity. “Really, kid? _Really_?” Peter’s confusion only grew. He hadn’t thought he’d said anything weird, but he must have. He tried to think back on what he had said. Mr. Stark had been mocking him about the texts and being bad at flirting and Peter had responded with–

Well shit.

Mr. Stark must have seen the panic quickly forming on Peter’s face, because he was quick to speak up. “I would like to say, before you begin freaking out, I do not in anyway shape or form care that you are dating another boy. I am also not going to judge or question your attempt at keeping it quiet because I understand that it may be a difficult thing for you to talk about it and I recognize that your comment – although frankly hilarious – was not intentional. Therefore, I am fully prepared to pretend this never happened, if you would feel more comfortable about it.” Mr. Stark said, holding one hand up to stop any comment from Peter. “I want you to know that I fully support you regardless of anything and if you are uncomfortable because you are in a bad situation with your aunt or anything like that, you are always welcome here. No questions asked.”

Peter stared at Mr. Stark, his panic changing rapidly into surprise. He knew Mr. Stark was supportive of the LGBT community but it was one thing to read about the old billionaire donating money to charities devoted to helping LGBT individuals or publicly berating homophobic people and another to have the man declare his unwavering support to him on a personal level. It filled him with a sense of warmth that nearly paralleled the feeling he had gotten when May had given him her unconditional support as well. The fact that Mr. Stark was absolutely willing to pretend the comment had never slipped from Peter’s mouth was another aspect Peter highly appreciated.

“I – thank you, Mr. Stark.” Peter managed to squeak out, unable to stop a small smile from curling his lips upwards. “I really appreciate that. I’m sorry I misled you about who I liked. I’m not in a bad situation – May is awesome – and I’m not uncomfortable talking about liking a boy, not really. It just seemed, I don’t know – hard, I guess, to correct you after you assumed I was talking about a girl.” Peter said, feeling like the older man deserved an explanation even though he had said it wasn’t necessary.

“I shouldn’t have done that. It’s very – what’s the word for when a straight person assumes everyone else is straight? There’s a word for it. Besides being an “asshole.”” Mr. Stark made circles with his hand as he thought. Peter’s grin grew.

“Heteronormative.” He answered. Mr. Stark snapped his fingers, indicating that was the word he had been thinking of. “But I don’t think you were an asshole for thinking I was straight.” He added, feeling the need to defend Mr. Stark from himself. Mr. Stark smiled wryly in response.

“You’re one of the only people in the world who would argue about me being an asshole, Underoos. That’s why I keep you around. Now, I feel like we have reached our quota of mushy emotion-feeling stuff so why don’t I go back to fixing your phone so you can return to texting Ted gross nerd flirting things and you go back to building those bracelets so Natasha can kill someone with weapons that perfectly match her outfit.”

Peter stared at Mr. Stark. “H-how’d you know it was Ned?” he demanded. Had Mr. Stark actually seen the messages? Had May told him? Had May told him about the _Notebook_?

“It wasn’t hard to guess, kid. You only have like one major guy friend and it seemed pretty safe to assume that the one you had a crush one was the one you never stopped talking about. I wholeheartedly approve – anyone who can get through my security measures and hack my technology is smart enough to date my intern.” Mr. Stark said, an amused smile on his face as he took in Peter’s flustered reaction. “Although you little shi- _brats_ better not try anything like that again.” He added, planting an obviously exaggerated stern expression on his face. Peter felt himself relax. Mr. Stark hadn’t known beforehand, which meant in no way had he heard of the Notebook.

“I make no promises.” He told him, a smile forming on his own lips. Mr. Stark just chuckled in response.

“You wouldn’t be the Spider-Brat if that wasn’t your response.” He said. Peter’s grin briefly grew before he turned his attention back to the half-formed bracelet in his hands.

He couldn’t wait to tell Ned that Tony Stark approved of them as a couple.

Just as soon as his phone was fixed.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this! I'm sorry it is being posted so much later than my others, but I am currently visiting family before school starts up again and I didn't have the chance to work on this as often as I did before the trip. I hope it was worth the wait! I know there was a lot of non-Peter/Ned related stuff in this one, but as I said in the first note, that was so I could add more Avengers into the story in a way that (hopefully) made sense plot wise. I hope Peter coming out to Tony made up for that - I know a lot of the people who read the first one-shot with Tony had been waiting to see how Peter would come out to him and I hope it wasn't disappointed. The next story should be up soonish (although as I am still visiting family there will probably be a longer wait again) and it will definitely have more Ned in it!


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